Application and platform to build enhanced data repositories for facilitating a merchant/service provider electronic exchange

ABSTRACT

A platform may include resources configured to receive information representing a phone call from a caller (e.g., a traveler) to a callee (e.g., a proprietor) and instead of immediately connecting the phone call may communicate a message to the caller telling the caller the call is being connected. Prior to connecting the phone call with the callee, the platform may connect with a proprietor device (e.g., a landline telephone or a smartphone) and communicate a message to the callee that an incoming phone call is from a potential customer and is being provided courtesy of a merchant electronic exchange. The message may further encourage the callee to join the merchant electronic exchange as a member and/or inform the callee of the number of leads it has provided to the callee. After communicating the message to the proprietor, the platform may connect the call between the caller and the callee.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/562,629, filed on Dec. 5, 2014, having Attorney Docket No. HOM-156,and titled “Adaptive Advisory Engine And Methods To Predict PreferentialActivities Available At A Region Associated With Lodging” which ishereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes.

FIELD

The present application relates generally to systems, software,electronic messaging, mobile computing and communication devices. Morespecifically, systems, applications, telephony systems, computingdevices, and methods to facilitate an electronic exchange are described.

BACKGROUND

Travelers who have booked a stay at a property, such as vacation rentalor a consumer (e.g., a user, a customer, a client), may requireinformation on trusted sources for goods and/or services in a geographicregion or location they may be located in, such as a geographic regionor location in an area around the vacation rental or a geographic regionor location a consumer may be visiting for shopping or other activitiesor events.

Experiences from other travelers and/or consumers with goods andservices in a particular geographic region may be helpful to thetraveler or consumer. However, conventional approaches have failed toeffectively connect travelers and/or consumers with providers of goodsand/or services that have been vetted by trusted sources.

Thus, there is a need for devices, systems and methods that facilitateconnecting providers of goods and/or services with consumers in need ofthose goods and/or services.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various embodiments or examples (“examples”) of the present applicationare disclosed in the following detailed description and the accompanyingdrawings. The drawings are not necessarily to scale:

FIG. 1 depicts one example of a platform configured to invite aproprietor to join an electronic exchange prior to connectingcommunications between a traveler and the proprietor;

FIG. 2 depicts one example of a computer system;

FIG. 3 depicts an example of a sequence performed by a platform toconnect a call from a traveler device to a proprietor device;

FIG. 4 depicts another example of a sequence performed by a platform toconnect a call from a traveler device to a proprietor device;

FIG. 5 depicts examples of information associated with a message thatmay include an invitation communicated to a proprietor device;

FIG. 6 depicts one example of a flow diagram for connection a phone callfrom a caller computing device with a callee device using a platform;

FIG. 7 depicts one example of a flow diagram for an application on acaller computing device that connects a phone call from the callercomputing device with a callee device using a platform;

FIG. 8 depicts one example of a block diagram for a telephony functionof a platform;

FIG. 9 depicts one example of a flow diagram for a telephony function ofa platform; and

FIG. 10 depicts one example of a block diagram for a platform.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various embodiments or examples may be implemented in numerous ways,including as a system, a process, a method, an apparatus, a userinterface, or a series of program instructions on a non-transitorycomputer readable medium such as a computer readable storage medium or acomputer network where the program instructions are sent over optical,electronic, or wireless communication links. In general, operations ofdisclosed processes may be performed in an arbitrary order, unlessotherwise provided in the claims.

A detailed description of one or more examples is provided below alongwith accompanying figures. The detailed description is provided inconnection with such examples, but is not limited to any particularexample. The scope is limited only by the claims and numerousalternatives, modifications, and equivalents are encompassed. Numerousspecific details are set forth in the following description in order toprovide a thorough understanding. These details are provided for thepurpose of example and the described techniques may be practicedaccording to the claims without some or all of these specific details.For clarity, technical material that is known in the technical fieldsrelated to the examples has not been described in detail to avoidunnecessarily obscuring the description.

Reference is now made to FIG. 1 where one example 100 of a platform 150configured to invite a proprietor 103 to join an electronic exchangeprior to connecting communications between a traveler 101 and theproprietor 103 is depicted. Traveler 101 may be in a geographic regionor location where a rental unit is located and the traveler 101 may havebooked a stay at the rental unit. For example, the rental may be oneunit in a group of condo unit, where the traveler 101 is staying atrental 120, which may be adjacent to other condo units such as unit 121.An owner of unit 120 may provide wired 193 and/or wireless 191 access toa guest (e.g., for a computing device 110 of traveler 101), such astraveler 101 via a wireless access point denoted as 130. During thetraveler's 101 stay at rental 120 the traveler may wish to participatein other events (e.g., activities) in the geographic region or locationof rental 120 (e.g., in the same city, town, vacation resort, etc.).Example events may include but are not limited to dining, exercise,shopping, hiking, entertainment, sporting events, etc., just to name afew. A vacation rental agency or business acting on behalf of propertyowners or rental units and travelers, or an owner of a rental may haveaccess to a platform 150 (e.g., a backend system) configured to matchtraveler 101 event selections with merchants, proprietors, businesses,and other economic interest in the geographic region.

Platform 150 may have internal and/or external access to resourcesincluding but not limited to one or more networked computer resources orprocessor(s) (PROC), networked data storage systems (DS), networkedcommunications resources (COMS), executable code (e.g., applicationsprogramming interface—API), search engine optimization terms (SEO), forexample. Platform 150 may communicate with external computing devicesand/or systems via COMS using wired 193 and/or wireless 191communications links. For example, traveler device 110, a proprietordevice 113 or other devices may communicate (191, 193) with platform 150via an external resource 199 (e.g., the Internet and/or Cloud). One ormore other communications resources may be used as portal computingdevices, such as a wireless access point 130, a cellular network 177 anda communications satellite 187 (e.g., a GPS satellite).

As one example, traveler 101 may wish to dine at a restaurant thatspecializes in Tapas. To that end, traveler 101 may interact 101 i withdevice 110 via a user interface UI presented on a display 111 oftraveler device 110 may include a search field 111 s in which a searchkey for “Tapas” may be entered using a keyboard 111 k presented ondisplay 111. Other input devices such as a voice based search may beused and example 100 is not limited to the scenario depicted. The searchstring “Tapas” may yield several hits for the geographic region orlocation around rental 120 (e.g., as determined by location data fromdevice 110 or other geo-location data). For example, the search key“Tapas” may return several results denoted as r1-r5, although there maybe more or fewer search results as denoted by 159. Traveler 101 mayselect 101 s (e.g., using a finger of traveler's 101 hand 101 h toactivate a touch screen selection), search result r4 which may expand toreveal additional information on a restaurant named “TapeOlé”. Theadditional information may include an address, a star rating (e.g., oneto five stars) for the restaurant, a distance (e.g., 1.3 miles) fromtraveler's 101 current location to the restaurant, and may furtherinclude icons or other selectable images configured to contact and/orcommunicate a message to the restaurant (e.g., to the proprietor,hostess, etc.).

For example, if after perusing the search results r1-r5, the traveler101 prefers “TapeOlé” (e.g., based on its five-star rating), thentraveler 101 may select one of the communications options presented,such as a phone call 119 p, an email message 119 e, and electronicmessage 119 m (e.g., text, IM, SMS, etc.), or a social media message 119s (e.g., a tweet). For purposes of explanation, the following examplewill describe the traveler 101 selecting 101 s the phone call 119 p asthe method for contacting the restaurant “TapeOlé”.

After selecting 101 s the icon 119 p for the phone call, circuitryand/or an application (APP) 126 on traveler device 110 may communicate(191, 193) with platform 150. Platform 150 may receive data representingthe phone call and temporarily Delay connection of the phone call to itsdestination number (e.g., the phone number for “TapaOlé”) as denoted bydashed line A from device 110 to function MSG/Delay in platform 150.While delaying connection of the phone call to its intended destination,platform 150 may communicate a message (MSG) to the traveler 101 statingthat the phone call is being connected. For example, a speaker in device110 may audibly present the MSG to traveler 101. In other examples,visual presentation of the MSG on display 111 may be used, such as anicon, graphic, animation, text message, or the like. Therefore, thecontent of the MSG need not be an audio form of media and may bepresented as another form of media, such as video, images, text, etc.

Moreover, while the phone call is being delayed, platform 150 maycommunicate with the proprietor 103 of “TapeOlé” by calling the phonenumber for “TapeOlé” or via another form of communications, such as anelectronic message. For purposes of explanation, a phone call denoted bydashed line B is made to the phone number for the proprietor 103 of“TapeOlé” and the phone call may be received on a communications and/orcomputing device of proprietor 103 (e.g., device 113). The phone callmay communicate a message that a phone call from a potential customer isbeing provided by an electronic exchange and may further communicate aninvitation for the proprietor to join the electronic exchange as denotedby INV/MSG in platform 150. The MSG may further communicate informationthe proprietor 103 may use to join the electronic exchange, such as aphone number to call, an email address, a twitter handle or a URL for awebsite, for example. As one non-limiting example, the electronicexchange may be a merchant electronic exchange or merchant electroniccooperative (COOP) where a variety of merchants, business owners,proprietors, service provides, shop owners and the like may join asmembers. Members may rate customers they have done business with (e.g.,using a star rating system), may have access to demographic, personalpreferences, spending habits, financial status, and other information oncustomers (e.g., travelers).

After communicating B the MSG and INV to join the electronic exchange,the platform may connect the phone call from traveler 101 with theproprietor 103 as denoted by dashed lines C. Platform 150 may include aconnect function configured to access one or more Telephony functionsfor connecting the traveler's 101 phone call with the destination phonenumber for “TapeOlé”.

As one example, “TapaOlé” may be a restaurant 140 which may be locatedin the vicinity of rental 120. Proprietor 103 may be the actual owner,but need not be. For example, a hostess, receptionist or other employeeor agent of “TapaOlé” may receive the INV/MSG and subsequent phone callfrom traveler 101 as described above in reference to dashed lines A-C.Device 110 may be a smartphone, cellphone, tablet, pad, computer,laptop, or a hard line telephone (e.g., plugged into a phone jack), forexample.

Incentives for proprietors to join the electronic exchange may includebut are not limited to, gaining access to qualified customers (e.g.,travelers 101) that have been previously vouched for or vetted by otherproprietors who have had previous experiences in doing business with thecustomer via the platform 150, access to leads for new customers who maybecome return customers and/or promote the business to friends and/orassociates (e.g., via submitted customer reviews and/or word of mouth),access to a pool of travelers 101, access to reviews from travelers 101that may be used by other customers and travelers 101 to decide whetheror not to patronize the business, push messaging or other forms ofcommunications from the platform 150 that promote the proprietor's 103business, optimizing SEO terms to include the proprietor's 103 businessin searches by travelers 101 (e.g., when travelers 101 search forrestaurants and/or Tapas), etc., just to name a few. The pool oftravelers may be presently visiting the locale of a proprietor'sbusiness (e.g., 103), may have visited the locale of the proprietor'sbusiness in the past, or may visit the locale of the proprietor'sbusiness at some future time. Information associated with the pool oftravelers, such as demographic information, personal preferences, travelhistory, activity history of events partaken in by travelers during pastor present travels, submitted reviews on events partaken in, spendingpatterns, prior searches by travelers, click-through data from priorsearches by travelers, may be used to optimize SEO terms for searches bytraveler 101, to filter search results based on experiences from thepool of travelers who were in the same locale, for example. As oneexample, data representing past searches for restaurants by thosetravelers in the pool of travelers (e.g., a subset of travelers in thepool) that visited the same locale as traveler 101 may be used to filtersearch results for a similar search (e.g., r1-r5) made by traveler 101.The search results may be further filtered by presenting search resultsthat were selected via a click-through (e.g., via phone call or sendingof an electronic message). In another example, restaurants having a starrating of four or five stars as rated by travelers in the pool may besuggested to traveler 101 with greater prominence in search resultspresented to the traveler 101 (e.g., at a top of the list of searchresults).

The Connect and Telephony functions of platform 150 may communicate andexchange data operative to determine one or more communication channelsto use in order to receive and delay the phone call (e.g., MSG/Delay)from traveler 101 as denoted by A, to communicate the message andinvitation to join the electronic exchange (e.g., INV/MSG) as denoted byB, and to Connect the traveler's 101 phone call with the proprietor 103as denoted by lines C. Platform 150 may use one or more combinations oftelephony/communications protocols, hardware or software to implementthe actions associated with dashed lines A-C as described above,including but not limited to voice over IP (VoIP), plain old telephoneservice (POTS), directed inward dial (DID), private branch exchange(PBX), cellular networks (e.g., 2G, 3G, 4G, one or more cellulartowers/networks 177, etc.), public switched telephone network (PSTN),WiFi (e.g., IEEE 802.x), WiMAX, LAN, WAN, etc., just to name a few. VoIPnetworks may include but are not limited to Cloud-based VoIP providers,Internet-based VoIP providers, Skype™, Viber™ RingCentral™, or others,for example. Communications associated with dashed lines A-C may includevoice, images, video, audio, text, or other content and is not limitedto voice data (e.g., the MSG's and/or conversation between 101 and 103).Communications associated with dashed lines A-C may include a servercall to a server or other compute engine in platform 150 or an externalresource in communication with platform 150 (e.g., 199).

As one example, the application 126 (APP) may receive data representingthe phone number associated with selected 101 s icon 119 p and transmit(191, 193) that data (e.g., 777-777-777) to platform 150. APP 126 may beconfigured to prevent the phone number from being connected throughanother communications network (e.g., cellular network 177) so that thecall is not connected to the proprietor's 103 business 140 before theplatform 150 has communicated the message and invitation (INV/MSG)denoted by dashed line B. Platform 150 may receive (e.g., via COMS) thedata representing the phone number (e.g., 777-777-777) and communicatethe MSG associated with line A to traveler device 110 (e.g., “ . . .your call is being connected . . . ”) and communicating the message andinvitation associated with line B to proprietor device 113 during theDelay in connecting the traveler 101 with the proprietor 103. Platformmay communicate the INV/MSG via POTS (e.g., if the phone number777-777-777 is for a land line phone), VoIP, PBX, PSTN, Cellularnetwork, WiFi or other network, for example.

Subsequent to the platform completing the INV/MSG, the platform 150 mayConnect the devices (110, 113) of the traveler 101 and proprietor 103using one or more of the above mentioned communications technologies,such as POTS, PBX, PSTN, VoIP, Cellular, WiFi or other. As one example,VoIP may be used to Connect the devices (110, 113) using cellularnetwork 177 to communicate the data for the VoIP call. As anotherexample, communications between traveler device 110 and platform 150 forlines A and C may be via VoIP using WiFi 130 or cellular 177 tocommunicate data for the VoIP and platform may use POTS forcommunication with proprietor device 113 for lines B and C, such thatthe traveler 101 and proprietor 103 after being connected are able tocommunicate (e.g., make and/or confirm a dinner reservation) withoutnecessarily perceiving that different communications technologies arebeing used (e.g., POTS and VoIP).

As another example, an actual phone number may not be used for the datarepresenting the phone number, such that selection of an icon on screen111 activates APP 126 to initiate a server call or a VoIP call toplatform 150. The selection of the icon does not dial an actual phonenumber; instead, the platform 150 may intercept or otherwise prevent adirect connection from device 110 to device 113. Platform 150 may haveaccess to data indicating an actual phone number for the icon selectedby the traveler 110, and may use that phone number to initiate sequenceB and C. From a perspective of the traveler 101, the selection of theicon has had the effect of connecting the traveler 101 with proprietor103 after some period of delay (e.g., from about 3 seconds to about 10seconds), without the traveler 101 knowing the phone call wasintercepted by platform 150 or that platform 150 after notifyingtraveler 101 of the phone call being connected during sequence A iscontacting the proprietor during sequence B.

A traveler device 110 may be a wireless computing device (e.g., asmartphone, tablet, pad, laptop, PDA, gaming device, etc.) that may bein communication with other systems and/or resources, such as thewireless 191 and/or the wired 193 communications links or networks,external resource 199 (e.g., Internet, Cloud, etc.), platform 150,wireless access point(s) 130, cellular communications network 177,communication satellite 187 (e.g., a GPS satellite), just to name a few.There may be more wireless computing devices 110 and travelers 101 asdenoted by 128. Wireless computing device 110 will be referredhereinafter as a traveler device 110. There may be more or fewerwireless access points 130, cellular communications networks 177, andsatellites 187 than depicted in FIG. 1 as denoted by 135, 175 and 188respectively. Data communications between the traveler device 110 andthe platform 150 may be direct (e.g., via 191 and/or 193) or may berouted through one or more other portal computing devices, such aswireless access points 130 and/or cellular communications network 140,for example. Other computing devices, such as the computing device 113of proprietor 103 (e.g., an owner of a rental property, a businessowner, a merchant, etc.) may communicate (191, 193) with the platform150 and/or one or more other networks (e.g., 130, 177), for example. Asone example, proprietor 103 may be associated with the business 140 in ageographic region or location that coincides with a vacation stay oftraveler 101 at a vacation rental property 120. As another example,vacation rental property 120 may be a condo unit rented to traveler 101by an owner or agent representing an owner of rental property 120. Condo120 may be adjacent to other condo units, such as 121, for example.There may be more or fewer devices 113, proprietors 103, and business140 than depicted as denoted by 143. A location of traveler 101 and/or aproprietor 103 need not be associated with a geographic region orlocation for a vacation stay (e.g., not restricted to longitudes andlatitudes at or around a stay) and may be global in range. For example,a larger region such as a country (e.g., India) or continent (e.g.,Asia) may be a location where a proprietor 103 and customer (e.g.,traveler 101) may be located.

Traveler device 110 and proprietor device 113 may transmit output dataand may receive input data. Output data may include location data and/ortemporal data generated by or stored in device 110. Temporal data may begenerated by an electronic system such as a clock included in device110. Location data may be generated by radio frequency (RF) systemsand/or sensors in device 110. Location data may be received from othercommunications resources such as from access points 130, cellularnetworks 177, and satellite 187, for example. RF signals (e.g., 191)communicated between devices 110, 130, 177 may include location data andaccess points 130 and cellular networks 177 may include a data storethat logs or otherwise tracks location data 177L associated with one ormore devices 110 in a geographic region or location. An application(e.g., APP 126) on device 110 may access from device 110 and/or externalsystems (e.g., external resource 199, access points 130, cellularnetwork 177, or others), location data (e.g., GPS, geolocation or otherlocations based services) associated with device 110. Location data 177Lfrom computing devices (e.g., 130, 177) may be used in addition to orinstead of location data from device 110 to determine a location oftraveler 101 via the traveler device 110 in the geographic region orlocation. In some examples, location data may include information onradio frequency (RF) signals emitted by device 110, such as receivedsignal strength indicator (RSSI), RF signal strength, or data includedin packets or other data structures included in a RF transmission 191from device 110 (e.g., MAC Address, IP address, Bluetooth address,etc.).

Wireless communications may include but is not limited to WiFi, WiMAX,Bluetooth, near filed communications (NFC), and cellular (e.g., 2G, 3G,4G), for example. Wired communications may include but is not limited tolocal area network (LAN), universal serial bus (USB), FireWire, andLightning, for example. An external resource 199 may include and/or haveaccess to computing resources and data storage resources. Platform 150may also include and/or have access to networked resources, such ascomputing (PROC) resources, data storage resources (DS), communicationsinterface (COMS), and an applications programming interface (API).

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary computer system 200 suitable for use inone or more systems, devices, compute engines, apparatus, travelerdevices, owner devices, wireless devices, wireless systems, backendsystems, front end systems, networked systems, platforms, data storagedevices, data storage systems, external resources, host devices orothers described in reference to FIGS. 1, and 3-6. In some examples,computer system 200 may be used to implement computer programs,algorithms, an application (APP), an application programming interface(API), telephony, configurations, methods, processes, or other softwareto perform the above-described techniques. Computer system 200 mayinclude circuitry, hardware, and other electronic systems to perform theabove-described techniques. Computer system 200 may include a bus 202 orother communication mechanism for communicating information, whichinterconnects subsystems and devices, such as one or more processors 204(e.g., μC, μP, DSP, ASIC, FPGA, Baseband, etc.), system memory 206(e.g., RAM, SRAM, DRAM, Flash), storage device 208 (e.g., Flash, ROM),disk drive 210 (e.g., magnetic, optical, solid state), communicationinterface 212 (e.g., modem, Ethernet, WiFi, Cellular), display 214(e.g., CRT, LCD, LED, OLED, touch screen), input device 216 (e.g.,keyboard, stylus, touch screen, mouse, track pad), and cursor control218 (e.g., mouse, trackball, stylus). Some of the elements depicted incomputer system 200 may be optional, such as elements 214-218, and oneor more clocks 240 which may provide temporal data, for example, one ormore sensors 230 which may provide location data, motion data (e.g.,rate of motion) and other data associated with movement (e.g., oftraveler 101), and computer system 200 need not include all of theelements depicted. Display 214 may present a user interface (UI), suchas a graphical user interface (GUI) 214 a. Memory 206 may includecomputer executable programs and/or data embodied in a non-transitorycomputer readable medium, such as an operating system (OS) 206 a, anapplication (APP) 206 b, and executable code (Ex-Code) 206 c, forexample. APP 206 b may be an application installed (e.g., from an APPstore) or otherwise present in a computing device, such as APP 126 indevice 110 or APP 137 in device 113, for example. APP 137 may beinstalled in device 113 after proprietor 103 has opted to join theelectronic exchange. APP 137 and/or APP 126 may be configured to useVoIP calls for future communications between callers and callee (e.g.,traveler 101 and proprietor 103).

According to some examples, computer system 200 performs specificoperations by one or more processors 204 executing one or more sequencesof one or more instructions stored in system memory 206. Suchinstructions may be read into system memory 206 from anothernon-transitory computer readable medium, such as storage device 208 ordisk drive 210 (e.g., a HDD or SSD). In some examples, circuitry may beused in place of or in combination with software instructions forimplementation. The term “non-transitory computer readable medium”refers to any tangible medium that participates in providinginstructions and/or data to processor(s) 204 for execution. Such amedium may take many forms, including but not limited to, non-volatilemedia and volatile media. Non-volatile media includes, for example,optical, magnetic, or solid state disks, such as disk drive 210.Volatile media includes dynamic memory, such as system memory 206.Common forms of non-transitory computer readable media includes, forexample, floppy disk, flexible disk, hard disk, SSD, magnetic tape, anyother magnetic medium, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, Blu-Ray ROM, USB thumb drive, SDCard, any other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, any otherphysical medium with patterns of holes, RAM, PROM, EPROM, FLASH-EPROM,any other memory chip or cartridge, or any other medium from which acomputer may read.

Sensor(s) 230 may include but are not limited to one or more inertialsensors (e.g., an accelerometer, a multi-axis accelerometer, agyroscope, a magnetometer, etc.), an altimeter, and a barometer, forexample. One or more sensors in sensor(s) 230 may be used to determinelocation data for a device that includes computer system 200 and/or isin communication with computer system 200 (e.g., a client device, atraveler device, a proprietor device, a smartphone, a merchant device,an owner device, a tablet, a pad, a laptop, PC, a wireless device, aportal computing device, a computing device, a networked computingdevice, a platform, a backend service, etc.). One or more of the memory206, storage device 208, or disk drive 210 may be accessed as a datastore for location data from sensor(s) 230 or other systems incommunication (e.g., via communications interface 212) the computersystem 200. Location data may be communicated to/from the computersystem 200 via one or more of the wireless transceivers 213. Sensors 230may include a GPS integrated circuit (IC) 233 configured to communicatewith one or more GPS satellites 187 and/or other sources of geolocationdata that may be used to calculate position of a computing device (e.g.,110 and/or 113) and to calculate other metrics such as distancetraveled, ETA, etc., for example.

For example, radio frequency signal sources including but not limited toGPS satellite signals (e.g., signals 191 from one or more GPS satellites187), terrestrial location transmitters (e.g., one or more cellulartowers), WiFi signals, WiMAX signals, WiFi routers, WiFi access points,Bluetooth signals (e.g., Bluetooth beacons), near field communicationsignals, iBeacons, data from external resource 199, and platform 150.Other signal and/or data sources for location data may include but arenot limited to audio signals (e.g., ultrasonic signals) and signalsand/or data generated by location tracking software (e.g., internal toand/or external to computer system 200), for example. In some examples,location data and/or signals may be communicated wireless communicationslink (e.g., 191) and/or a wired communications link (e.g., 193).Location data accessed by computer system 200 may include but is notlimited to a location history data base (e.g., 147) and location data177, for example. The location data may be updated, revised or otherwisechange on a dynamic basis as the guest device 110 moves around in areasaround event or other activity.

Instructions may further be transmitted or received using a transmissionmedium. The term “transmission medium” may include any tangible orintangible medium that is capable of storing, encoding or carryinginstructions for execution by the machine, and includes digital oranalog communications signals or other intangible medium to facilitatecommunication of such instructions. Transmission media may includecoaxial cables, copper wire, and fiber optics, including wires thatcomprise bus 202 for transmitting a computer data signal or othersignals (e.g., from hardware or circuitry). In some examples, executionof the sequences of instructions may be performed by a single computersystem 200. According to some examples, two or more computer systems 200coupled by communication link 220 (e.g., LAN, Ethernet, PSTN, USB, orwireless network) may perform the sequence of instructions incoordination with one another. Computer system 200 may transmit andreceive messages, data, and instructions, including programs, (i.e.,application code), through communication link 220 and communicationinterface 212. Received program code may be executed by processor 204 asit is received, and/or stored in disk drive 210, or other non-volatilestorage for later execution. Computer system 200 may optionally includea wireless transceiver 213 coupled with the communication interface 212and coupled 215 with an antenna 217 for receiving and generating RFsignals (191, 221), such as from a WiFi network, WiMAX network, BTradio, Cellular network, networked computing resources, externalresource 199, client devices (e.g., 110), owner devices (e.g., 113),near field communication (NFC), satellite network, data storage network,or other wireless network and/or wireless devices, for example. Examplesof wireless devices (e.g., client devices) may include but is notlimited to those depicted in FIGS. 1, and 3-6. Communications interface212 may be coupled 222 with data storage external to computer system200. Communications interface 212 may be coupled 193 with externalresources and/or systems, such as those depicted in FIGS. 1, and 3-6,for example. Computer system 200 may be used to implement a computingdevice (e.g., 110, 113), a portal computing device (e.g., 130, 177), anetworked computing device (e.g., 1053, 1055, 1059, 1080), the platform150, and external resource (e.g., 199), for example.

Processor(s) 204 may be coupled 202 with signals from circuitry or otherhardware systems of computer system 200. For examples, signals fromclock 240, sensors 230, GPS IC 233, and communications interface (e.g.,via wireless transceivers 213) may be processed by processor 204 and/orother circuitry to calculate an estimated time of arrival of the device110 (e.g., due to motion of traveler 101 carrying device 110) at anevent in geographic region or location associated with a stay at avacation rental, rental unit, or other events or activities. The ETA maybe calculated based on time data from clock 240 and one or more oflocation data from GPS IC 233 or terrestrial sources such as cellularnetworks 177 and/or wireless access points 130, speed data (e.g., scalardata), or velocity data (e.g., vector data). Speed or velocity data maybe calculated from signals from sensors 230 and changes in location data(e.g., from 130, 177, 233) as traveler 101 and their device 110 moverelative to some event (e.g., a restaurant) or other reference point.Rate of travel (e.g., distance traveled per unit of time) may becalculated using signals from clock 240, sensors 230 and/or locationdata and/or signals from one or more of GPS IC 233, cellular networks177, or wireless access points 130.

Moving now to FIG. 3 where an example 300 of a sequence performed by aplatform 150 to connect a call from a traveler device 110 to aproprietor device 113 is depicted. In FIG. 3, upon selection 101 s oficon 119 p, traveler device 110 may communicate the phone numberassociated with “TapeOlé” to platform 150 (e.g., via APP 126). Uponreceiving data representing the phone call to “TapaOlé”, platform 150may perform a sequence denoted as 301A, where sequence 301A communicatesa message to the traveler 101 via traveler device 110 that notifies thetraveler 101 that the call to “TapeOlé” is being connected (e.g., thephone call to “TapeOlé” has been placed but not yet received byproprietor device 113) as described above in reference to dashed line Ain FIG. 1. Prior to connecting the phone call, platform 150 may performa sequence denoted as 303B, where sequence 303B notifies the proprietor(or an agent for proprietor 103) via proprietor device 113 that anincoming call is from a potential customer, the call is being providedby an electronic exchange, and invites the proprietor 103 to considerjoining the electronic exchange as described above in reference todashed line B in FIG. 1.

Subsequent to communicating the message and invitation to join, platform150 may Connect the traveler 101 as caller with the proprietor 103 ascallee as described above in reference to dashed line C in FIG. 1. Forexample, upon connection of the call, proprietor 103 may answer the call(e.g., pick-up the call) as denoted by 305C, traveler 101 may request areservation as denoted by 307C, proprietor 103 may confirm thereservation as denoted by 309C, and traveler 101 may conclude theconversation as denoted by 311C. The conversations, messages, andinvitations depicted are non-limiting examples and differentconversations, messages, and invitations may be used.

A delay (e.g., in units of time) between the traveler 101 placing thecall (e.g., dashed line A) by activating 101 s the icon 119 p and theproprietor 103 being connected (e.g., dashed line C) with the traveler's101 call may be in a range from about 3 seconds to about 15 seconds, forexample. Therefore, function MSG/Delay in platform 150 may delayconnection of caller and callee by some finite amount of time that maybe dependent on the circumstances of each phone call, such as networklatency, network availability, network traffic, time it takes for thecallee to answer or pick-up the call on the telephone or other device113, or other factors. One or more telephony functions may beimplemented internal to platform 150 as depicted in FIG. 1, may beimplemented by an external system (e.g., external resource 199 in FIG.3) or both. As one example, platform 150 may implement one or more ofA-C using VoIP functions provided by external system 199.

Turning now to FIG. 4 where another example 400 of a sequence performedby a platform 150 to connect a call from a traveler device 110 to aproprietor device 113 is depicted. In FIG. 4, a search key (e.g., asearch string) entered in search field 111 s may yield several hits foractivities that match the search key. One of the activities of interestto traveler 101 may be selected 101 s to expand the search result rN.Subsequent selection 101 s by the traveler 101 of icon 119 p mayactivate APP 126 to communicate data representing the phone numberassociated with the selected icon 119 p and a phone number and/or otheraddress associated with traveler device 110 to platform 150. Forexample, platform 150 may be configured to execute a telephony function450 operative to: (a) use the data representing the phone number and/oraddress of traveler device 110 to establish a connection betweenplatform 150 and traveler device 110 (e.g., dashed line A) tocommunicate a message 401A “your call to . . . is being connected!” totraveler 101 via device 110; (b) to use the data representing the phonenumber associated with the selected icon 119 p to establish a connectionbetween platform 150 and the proprietor device 113 (e.g., dashed line B)to communicate a message 403B “This call from a potential customer isbeing provided by an Electronic Exchange—please consider joining theElectronic Exchange!” to proprietor 103 via proprietor device 113; and(c) use the data representing the phone number associated with theselected icon 119 p and the data representing the phone number and/oraddress of traveler device 110 to establish a connection betweenplatform 150 and the traveler and proprietor devices (110, 113) (e.g.,dashed line C) where conversation 405C and 407C between the traveler 101and proprietor 103 may proceed (e.g., to make a reservation,appointment, order goods or services, etc.). In the example 400, thetelephony function 450 may be a VoIP communication between platform 150and devices 110 and 113. The telephony function 450 may be internal toplatform 150, external to platform 150 or both. In addition to a uniquephone number associated with the traveler device 110 and/or proprietordevice 113, a unique address or ID, if any, for the traveler device 110,the proprietor device 113 or both, may include but is not limited to awireless device address or ID, a MAC address, Bluetooth address, IPaddress, SSID or other types of addresses assigned to a computingdevice, for example. Other telephony functions or combinations oftelephony functions may be used to establish connections andcommunications between the platform 150 and the devices 110 and 113, andthe present application is not limited to a VoIP implementation.

Referring now to FIG. 5 where examples 500 of information associatedwith a message that may include an invitation communicated to aproprietor device 113 are depicted. After receiving the message andinvitation 403B associated dashed line B, traveler 103 may receive othermessages and/or information from platform 150 in connection with dashedline B or at some later time after the traveler 110 and proprietor 103have communicated with each other (e.g., dashed line C). Communication503B may provide (e.g., via audio or images) an application (e.g., APP137) that may be installed on device 113 to learn more about theelectronic exchange and/or a web site (e.g., a URL) where the proprietor103 may learn more about the electronic exchange. Communication 505B mayinform the proprietor 103 that the electronic exchange has generatedleads for businesses like that of the proprietor 103. Communication 507Bmay inform the proprietor 103 that the electronic exchange has generatedleads for businesses in the proprietor's 103 location (e.g., in vicinityof the geographic region or location of the stay of traveler 101).Communication 509B may inform the proprietor that the electronicexchange has useful information (e.g., from a traveler data base) on thecustomer that is calling the proprietor and other potential customers.The electronic exchange may have access to data indicating a numberand/or concentration of travelers, in addition to traveler 101, locatedin the geographic region or location of the proprietor's business, forexample. Location data from traveler devices (e.g., like device 110),location data from a location data base (e.g., 177L) or other sources ofgeo-location data may be accessed and processed by platform 150 todetermine the number and/or concentration of other travelers located inthe geographic region or location of the proprietor's business.Communication 511B may inform the proprietor 103 that electronicexchange members may receive merchant ratings on customers (e.g.,traveler 101) that call (e.g., dashed line A) the proprietor 103.Platform 150 may maintain and/or have access to a data store that mayinclude customer ratings by merchants who conducted business with thecustomers being rated. The merchant ratings may be used to vet, vouchfor or otherwise inform the proprietor 103 of the advantages ordisadvantages of doing business with the customer. Communication 511Bmay include data representing the merchant ratings on one or morecustomers and that data may be used by the proprietor 103 to determinewhat action to take in regards to a customer (e.g., refusing to accept acustomer's call if the merchant ratings are low—two stars or less).Communication 511B may include data representing the merchant ratings onone or more customers that are present in the region and/or locationaround a proprietors business or who will be present at a future time inthe region and/or location around a proprietors business (e.g., based ondata representing stay data for a customer or traveler, such as check-inand checkout times/dates). Information on customers included incommunications 511B may be used to give electronic exchange membersadvance notice on potential customers and/or merchant ratings on thosepotential customers. Advanced notice may be used by a proprietor topre-screen customers (e.g., based on merchant ratings, demographic data,etc.) the proprietor is willing to conduct business with and/or to sendelectronic messages (e.g., push messages, email, text, tweet, IM, SMS)to in order to solicit their patronage.

Communication 513B may offer to generate access credentials (e.g., username and password) to the proprietor 103 in return for joining theelectronic exchange. The access credentials may be generated by theplatform 150 and may be temporary access credentials that may later bechanged by the proprietor 103. A biometric device, such as a biometricfinger print scanner 518 of device 113 may be used as an accesscredential or as part of an access credential that is accepted byplatform 150 (e.g., to allow data communications between platform 150and its resources and device 113). Communications 503B-513B may becommunicated via audio 531 on a speaker 533 of device 113 or may bepresented visually on a screen 515 of device 113 or on a screen ofanother computing device (e.g., a laptop computer).

APP 137, if installed by the proprietor 103 on a suitable computingdevice (e.g., device 113) may present icons or other images on a display115 of the device 113. Initially, prior to the proprietor 103 joiningthe electronic exchange, some of the icons (e.g., 522-528) may bealtered in appearance (e.g., grayed out) to indicate they may not beselected or otherwise activated until the proprietor 103 has takenaction to become a member of the electronic exchange, by selecting a“Join Electronic Exchange” icon 520, for example, and performingadditional steps, if any, to establish membership. In FIG. 5, the “JoinElectronic Exchange” icon 520 is depicted a in black outline, as opposedto the gray outline of icons 522-528 to indicate icon 520 is selectableby the proprietor 103 and may be activated by the proprietor 103 to jointhe electronic exchange.

Subsequent to the proprietor 103 joining the electronic exchange, icons522-528 may become active for selection (e.g., via a finger of a hand103 h of proprietor 103) by the proprietor 103. As one example,selection of icon 526 may present information on merchant ratings (e.g.,based on a one-star to five-star rating system) on a customer (e.g., atraveler) who is calling the proprietor 103 (e.g., dashed line A).Selection of icon 524 may provide the proprietor 103 with customerprofile data (e.g., demographic data, spending pattern data, preferencesfor activities, family members or others who typically travel with thecustomer, preferences for food and drink, preferences for rentalaccommodations, etc.). Proprietor 103 may interact 103 i with device 113(e.g., via display 115) to select one or more of the icons and APP 137may present information on display 115 in response to selections by theproprietor 103. As another example, information presented to theproprietor 103 may include an indication that a customer is a pastcustomer (e.g., from last summer) or a traveler returning to the areafor another vacation. That information may be used by the proprietor indetermining whether or not to accept a call from the customer/traveleror to reach out in a proactive manner to solicit the patronage of thecustomer/traveler via a phone call, electronic message, or pushnotification, for example.

One or more of APP 137, device 113 or platform 150 may include a voiceinterface configured to convert speech by proprietor 103 into text orother data. The voice interface may be configured to provide theinformation described above for 503B-513B, for example. The voiceinterface may be configured to convert speech by proprietor 103 into anaction or actions, such as selecting one of the icons presented ondisplay 115 (e.g., a verbal command or sentence by proprietor 103 tojoin the electronic exchange).

Platform 150 may include a function “Lead Tally+” (e.g., a counterimplemented in circuitry) to count or otherwise tally the number ofleads generated by the platform 150 in regards to activities in thegeographic region or location of the stay for traveler 101, othertravelers (e.g., in the same geographic region or location of traveler101) or both. The lead tally may be categorized in any number of ways,including but not limited to a tally of leads for businesses like thoseof proprietor 103, a tally of leads specifically for the proprietor'sbusiness 140, leads for other businesses in the same geographic regionor location as the proprietor's 103 business 140, etc. just to name afew.

Attention is now directed to FIG. 6 where one example of a flow diagram600 for connection a phone call from a caller computing device with acallee device using a platform is depicted. At a stage 602, datarepresenting a phone call to a callee device (e.g., device 113) may bereceived from a caller computing device (e.g., device 110). The datarepresenting the phone call may be processed by one or more processorsthat execute the APP 126 on the traveler computing device 110, forexample. APP 126 may format the data representing the phone call into aformat configured to be received by platform 150, such as one or moredata packets and associated fields, for example. Circuitry in device 110may convert analog speech signals from traveler 101 (e.g., thetraveler's voice) into a digital format that is accessed by APP 126 forcommunication to platform 150 (e.g., via a wireless system of device110). Selection 101 s of icon 119 p on display 111 of device 110 mayactivate transmission of the data representing the phone call from thedevice 110 to platform 150 (e.g., via 191 or 193). APP 126 maycommunicate the data representing the phone call (e.g., data for phonenumber 777-777-777) with one or more systems of device 110 (e.g., acommunication interface and/or processor) to cause transmission of thedata representing the phone call to the platform 150 via one of thecommunications links (191, 193) of device 110 (e.g., using WiFi orCellular communications). APP 126 may communicate with platform 150 viathe communications links (191, 193) to determine that the datarepresenting the phone call from the device 110 has been received by theplatform 150. APP 126 may access data representing the sequence 301A ofFIG. 3 (e.g., a digital audio recording) and use that data to playbackthe message stating the call is being connected using one or moresystems of device 110, such as a speaker of device 110. A DSP and/ordigital-to-analog converter in device 110 may be accessed by APP 126 toconvert the message from a digital domain to an analog domain forplayback on the speaker. Similarly, APP 126 may access the DSP and/or ananalog-to-digital converter in device 110 to convert analog speechsignals (e.g., captured by a microphone of device 110) into digitalsignals (e.g., for VoIP communications) that are communicated toplatform 150. As one example, the message for the sequence 301A may bestored in memory (e.g., non-volatile memory) in device 110.

At a stage 604, data representing a message stating the phone call tothe callee is being connected may be transmitted to the caller computingdevice (e.g., sequence A of FIGS. 1, 3 and 4). The data representing themessage may be an audio recording (e.g., a digital audio file) playedback in the analog domain over a speaker or other transducer on thecaller computing device 110, for example. In another example, the datarepresenting the message may be an image presented on a display 111 ofdevice 110, such as an icon, a text-based message, or the like. In yetanother example, the data representing the message may include one ormore of audio, video, and images. A communications interface of device110 may receive the data representing the message via one of thecommunications links (191, 193) of device 110 (e.g., using WiFi orCellular communications).

At a stage 606 a communications link (191,193) may be established with acallee device (e.g., device 113) using the data representing the phonecall (e.g., data for phone number 777-777-777). The telephony functionof platform 150 may be configured to determine which internal and/orexternal functions to use to establish the communications link, such asVoIP or POTS, for example. In some examples, the callee device may notbe a computing device (e.g., a wireless computing device) or may be acomputing device that may not be configured to receive directly orindirectly a VoIP or other form of communications. Therefore, platform150 may select one or more appropriate telephony functions to effectuatethe establishment of the communications link, such as PBX or DID, forexample.

At stage 608 data representing a message stating that a call from acallee (e.g., the traveler 101, a potential customer, etc.) is beingprovided by an electronic exchange and making an offer for the callee tojoin the electronic exchange may be communicated over the communicationslink. The message and/or invitation to join may be a audio data that isplayed back or data representing other forms of content including butnot limited to analog content, digital content, multi-media content,audio content, image content, and video content, for example.

At a stage 610 a communications link (e.g., 191, 193) may be establishedbetween the callee device (e.g., 113) and the caller computing device(e.g., 110) to connect the phone call that was sent (e.g., transmitted)from the caller computing device to the callee device. Differentcommunications links may be used to connect the caller computing devicewith the callee device. For example, platform 150 may connect withcaller computing device via VoIP and connect with the callee device viaPOTS. As another example, platform 150 may connect with caller computingdevice and the callee device via VoIP. As yet another example, platform150 may connect with caller computing device and the callee device via aCellular network (e.g., 177). One or more portal computing devices(e.g., 177, 130) may be used to route or otherwise connect the callercomputing device with the callee device.

At a stage 612, data representing a conversation (e.g., between caller101 and callee 103) may be transmitted over the communications linkestablished between the caller and callee devices. The data representingthe conversation may be in the analog domain, the digital domain orboth. Telephony function or other circuitry accessed by platform 150 mayconvert data (e.g., conversation between caller and callee or messagessent to caller and/or callee) from the analog domain to the digitaldomain or vice-versa, for one or more of the stages 602-612, forexample.

Moving now to FIG. 7 where one example of a flow diagram 700 for anapplication (e.g., APP 126) on a caller computing device (e.g., device110) that connects a phone call (e.g., sequence A) from the callercomputing device with a callee device (e.g., device 113) using aplatform (e.g., 150). At a stage 702 data representing a phone number tobe called may be received from a computing device (e.g., by APP 126 viadisplay 111 of device 110). The data representing the phone number to becalled may be received from an interface between a computing device andinput system of the computing device, such as a touch screen (e.g., adial pad, an icon or an image on display 111) or a voice interface(e.g., via speech signals output by a microphone 133, see FIG. 1) thatconverts signals from a microphone (e.g., from human speech) into text,numbers or some other form of data. The data representing the phonenumber to be called may be a number selected from a larger set of phonenumbers based on search results obtained from a search of a data storeincluding data on a pool of travelers. For example, the pool oftravelers may have a connection (e.g., from past and/or present visits)with the region or location where the traveler 101 is located. The dataon the pool of travelers may include searches by travelers in the poolfor activities specific to the region or location (e.g., restaurants).Results from those searches may be included in search results forsearches by traveler 101. As one example, the data on the pool oftravelers may include search results for activities that were rated at4-stars or higher by travelers in the pool. Accordingly, search results(e.g., r1-r5) may include hits for activities that were rated highly(e.g., 4-stars) by other travelers in the pool.

At a stage 704 a communications link (e.g., wired and/or wireless) maybe established between the computing device and the platform using acommunications interface circuit (e.g., a radio frequency (RF) system)of the computing device (e.g., for wired or wireless communication). Forexample, the communications link may be a wireless link via a one ormore wireless protocols, including but not limited to WiFi (e.g., IEEE802.x), a Bluetooth (BT), near field communication (NFC), and cellular(e.g., 2G, 3G, 4G, etc.), just to name a few. Wired communications linksmay include but are not limited to universal serial bus (USB), IEEE1394, and local area network (LAN), for example.

At a stage 706 the data representing the phone number to be called maybe transmitted to the platform using the communications link. Anapplication or other hardware and/or software on the computing devicemay format or convert the data representing the phone number into one ormore formats the platform is configured to receive, such as in one ormore data packets or other data structures or formats, for example.

At a stage 708, data representing a message to a caller (e.g., thetraveler, user, customer, etc. that caused the phone number to becalled), the message stating the phone call is being connected, may betransmitted by the platform and may be received via the communicationslink. The actual content of the message (e.g., audio content and/orvisual content) may be application dependent and is not limited to theexamples described herein.

At a stage 710, optionally, the message received at the stage 708 may beformatted for presentation on a hardware system (e.g., display 111and/or a speaker 131, see FIG. 1) of the computing device (e.g., 110).In some examples, data for the message may be in a digital format andmay be converted into an analog format, such as for driving an amplifiercoupled with a speaker in an audio system of the computing device. Inother′ examples, data for the message may be in a digital format and maybe formatted into a different digital format, such as for display on adisplay of the computing device.

At a stage 712, the formatted message may be presented on a hardwaresystem of the computing device (e.g., display 111 and/or speaker 131 ofdevice 110). The type of data of the formatted message may determine(e.g., by a processor of the computing device) which hardware system theformatted message is presented on, such as a display system for imagedata, an audio system for audio data, a Bluetooth system, or somecombination of hardware systems such as display system and an audiosystem or a display system and a Bluetooth system, for example.

At a stage 714, data transmitted by the platform and representing aconversation between the caller and a callee who receives a phone callfrom the caller, may be received via the communications link. The datarepresenting the conversation may be transmitted upon establishing aconnection between the platform and a callee device. The callee devicemay be a computing device (e.g., device 113). In other examples, thecallee device may not be a computing device (e.g., a land-linetelephone).

At a stage 716, optionally, the data representing the conversation maybe formatted for presentation on a hardware system of the computingdevice, such as was described above for the stage 710, for example. Aswas described above in reference to the stage 710, formatting of thedata for the conversation may be optional, and may be executed in thosecases were the data being received is in a format that is different thanthe format the hardware system requires for presentation of data itreceives (e.g., from a processor or application in the computingdevice).

At a stage 718, the formatted data for the conversation may be presentedon a hardware system of the computing device, such as was describedabove for the stage 712, for example.

Attention is now directed to FIG. 8 where one example of a block diagram800 for a telephony function of a platform is depicted. A bus 801 orsimilar structure may couple one or more systems, circuitry, or otherfunctions of platform 150. Platform 150 may include (e.g., in COMS) aninput/output (I/O) system configured to transmit and receive datacommunications from internal (e.g., internal to platform 150) andexternal systems (e.g., devices 110, 113, 130, 177, and 199) via wired193 and/or wireless 191 communications links. A RF system 830 mayinclude circuitry for one or more radios coupled 831 with one or moreantenna. RF system 830 may be coupled 821 with I/O 820 to communicatedata 191 received and/or transmitted using the one or more radios. Forexample, RF system may include a plurality of radios that communicateusing different protocols, such as WiFi, Bluetooth, Cellular or NFC. Oneor more processors 810 (e.g., DSP, μC, μP, ASIC, FPGA, etc.) may becoupled with other systems via bus 801, such as memory 840, a callformat converter 850, and a connection manager 860. Memory 840 mayinclude one or more algorithms 841 and/or application program interfaces843 that are embodied in a non-transitory computer readable mediumconfigured to execute on processors 810 or other compute engines.Processors 810 may include one or more servers, laptop computers, ornetworked computers that are accessed by platform 150 (e.g., see 1055,1053 and 1059 in FIG. 10).

Connection manager 860 may include a connection selector 863 configuredto receive a signal (e.g., from bus 801) and select a sequenceconnection type between platform 150 and device 110 and/or device 113during sequences A-C. The sequence connection type for sequence A isdenoted as A 862, for sequence B is B 864 and for sequence C is demotedas C′ 866 and C″ 868. Sequence C may have two different connectionstypes due to differences in how devices 110 and 113 may communicate withplatform 150. As one example, during sequence C when the platform 150connects the traveler's device 110 with the proprietor's device 113, thesequence connection type C′ may represent a server call connectionbetween device 110 (e.g., via APP 126) with platform 150; whereas, thesequence connection type C″ may represent a VoIP call connection betweenproprietor device 113 and platform 150. Traveler 101 and proprietor 103may be unaware of the different connection technologies being used toconnect the call during sequence C. As another example, the sequenceconnection type C′ may represent a VoIP call connection between device110 (e.g., via APP 126) with platform 150; whereas, the sequenceconnection type C″ may represent a POTS call connection betweenproprietor device 113 and platform 150. In some examples, C′ and C″ maybe the same connection types, such as VoIP between the platform 150 anddevices (110, 113), for example.

During a sequence, connection selector 863 may connect the data orsignal from a device (110, 113) with the appropriate telephony functionof platform 150, such as VoIP, POTS, Cellular, WiFi, PBX, etc. As oneexample, hardware and/or software that implements VoIP may be connectedwith A 862 during sequence A when communications between platform 150and device 110 are VoIP based. As another example, a server call fromdevice 110 during sequence A may connect a server or other computeengine of platform with signal and/or data from A 862. As yet anotherexample, connection selector 863 may connect signals and/or data fromdevice 113 during sequence B 864 and during sequence C″ 868 with POTShardware accessed by platform 150; whereas, data and/or signals fordevice 110 may be connected with VoIP resources of platform 150 forsequence A 862 and C′ 866.

Call format converter 850 may include a caller converter 852 (e.g., fordevice 110 signals and/or data) and a callee converter 854 (e.g., fordevice 113 signals and/or data. Call format converter 850 may includecircuitry and/or software to convert different caller and/or calleesignals and/or data into a format that may be received by a device. Forexample, if device 110 communicates with platform 150 via VoIP anddevice 113 communicates with platform 150 using POTS, then callerconverter 852 may convert digital signals from device 110 to analogsignals compatible with device 113. On the other hand, callee converter854 may convert analog signals from device 113 to digital signalscompatible with device 110. Circuitry including but not limited toanalog-to-digital converters (ADC), digital-to-analog converters (DAC),pulse-code-modulation converters (PCM), digital signal processors (DSP),or the like may be used for caller and/or callee converters (852, 854).Call format converter 850 and/or connection manager 860 may be includedin a telephony function and/or system of platform 150.

FIG. 9 depicts one example of a flow diagram 900 for a telephonyfunction of platform 150. At a stage 902 a communications link (e.g.,via COMS or 1080) between the platform 150 and a device (e.g., 110and/or 113) may be established for communications between the device andthe platform 150. At a stage 904 a determination may be made as towhether or not the device is a caller device (e.g., 110). If the deviceis a caller device, then a YES branch may be taken and flow 900 maytransition to a stage 906. On the other hand if the device is not acaller device, then a NO branch may be taken and flow 900 may transitionto a stage 903.

At the stage 906 a determination may be made as to whether or notinformation being received at the platform 150 by the caller device(e.g., data transmitted 191 or 193 by device 110) is compatible with aformat for a callee device (e.g., the device specified by data in thephone number and/or associated with icon 119 p). If a NO branch istaken, then flow 900 may transition to a stage 908 where the callerinformation may be formatted to be compatible with the format for thecallee device (e.g., device 113). For example, call format converter 850in FIG. 8 may convert using caller converter 852, information from thecaller device into a format compatible with the callee device (e.g.,convert digital information to analog information). If a YES branch istaken from the stage 906, then flow 900 may transition to a stage 910.At the stage 910 a sequence connection type may be determined for thecaller device. For example, Connection manager 860 in FIG. 8 may detectthe sequence connection type for information being communicated betweenplatform 150 and the caller device, such as a server call, a VoIP, etc.At a stage 912 a telephony system of platform 150 may be selected basedon the detected sequence connection type. For example, if the callerdevice 110 is communicating with platform 150 via a server call (e.g.,from APP 126), then a computing resource of platform 150 may be selectedas the telephony system. As another example, if the caller device 110 iscommunicating with platform 150 using a VoIP protocol, then VoIPtelephony function (e.g., hardware and/or software of platform 150) maybe selected as the telephony system. At a stage 914 information may becommunicated between the platform 150 and the caller device (e.g.,sequence A in FIG. 1). At a stage 916 a determination may be made as towhether or not to connect the caller device (e.g., 110) and a calleedevice (e.g., 113) with each other.

If the NO branch was taken from the stage 904, then flow 900 maytransition to a stage 903 where a determination may be made as towhether or not the device is a callee device (e.g., 113). If a NO branchis taken from the stage 903, then flow 900 may transition to anotherstage, such as back to the stage 902, for example. If the YES branch istaken from the stage 903, then flow 900 may transition to a stage 905where a determination may be made as to whether callee informationreceived at the platform is compatible with a caller device informationformat. If a NO branch is taken from the stage 905, then flow 900 maytransition to a stage 907 where the format of the callee information maybe formatted (e.g., via call format converter 850 of FIG. 8) to becompatible with the information format of the caller device. If the YESbranch is taken from the stage 905, then flow 900 may transition to astage 909. At the stage 909 a sequence connection type may be determinedfor the callee device. For example, Connection manager 860 in FIG. 8 maydetect the sequence connection type for information being communicatedbetween platform 150 and the callee device, such as a server call, aVoIP, etc. At a stage 911 a telephony system of platform 150 may beselected based on the detected sequence connection type for the calleedevice (e.g., using connection manager 860 of FIG. 8). At a stage 913,information may be communicated between the platform 150 and the calleedevice (e.g., sequence B in FIG. 1).

At the stage 916 a determination may be made as to whether or not toconnect the caller and callee devices (e.g., for sequence C of FIG. 1).If a NO branch is taken from the stage 916, then flow 900 may transitionto another stage, such as the stage 902, for example. If a YES branch istaken from the stage 916, then flow 900 may transition to another stage,such as the stage 920. At the stage 920 the selected telephony systemsfor the caller and callee devices may be connected and communicationsbetween the caller and callee devices may proceed via the communicationsinterface using the appropriate information formats for the caller andcallee devices. The stage 920 may implement sequence C of FIG. 1, forexample. As one example, caller device 110 may communicate with platform150 using a server call and callee device 113 may communicate withplatform 150 using VoIP. The traveler 101 and proprietor 103 may beunaware that their conversations during sequence C are being handled orotherwise routed through different telephony systems of platform 150and/or may be unaware that the platform 150 is handling communicationsbetween caller and callee devices sans a direct connection betweendevice 110 and 113 are a result of traveler 101 selecting icon 119 p toinitiate the phone call.

Reference is now made to FIG. 10 where one example of a block diagram150 for a platform is depicted. Platform 150 may be configured toperform hardware and/or software functions of an electronic exchange forproprietors 103 and other merchants, business owners, etc. who aremembers of the electronic exchange or may become members of theelectronic exchange (e.g., by electing to join 520 the electronicexchange). Platform 150 may be a platform that includes a communicationsinterface and data storage and processing resources in communicationwith the communications interface using wired 193 and/or wireless 191communications links. Platform 150 may be in wired 193 and/or wireless191 communications with other devices and systems, including but notlimited to external resource 199 and its associated resources (e.g.,compute and data storage resources), one or more traveler devices 110,one or more proprietor devices 113, and other computing devices, just toname a few. Platform 150 may include resources in communications withone another, that may include but are not limited to an applicationprogram interface (API) 1041, executable code 1042, one or more laptopcomputers 1059, one or more servers 1053, a communications interface1080 that may include wireless 191 (e.g., a wireless 1081 access point),and wired 193 links, firewall 1057, one or more server farms 1055, datastorage 1060, location data 1030 which may include location history datafrom traveler device 110 (e.g., a location history data base),event/activities data 1065 (e.g., for events in a geographic region orlocation which may include the rental unit 120), credential data 1064(e.g., WiFi access point network name and SSID for access point 130,credential for proprietors of the electronic exchange), proprietor data1063 (e.g., proprietor contact information, location data, businesstype, service type), traveler data 1061 (e.g., traveler preferences,demographics, spending habits, information on traveler device(s) 110,contact information, email address, addresses for other electronicmedia/accounts, etc.), stay data 1066 (e.g., beginning/ending datesand/or times for a stay, rental unit location, etc.), rental unit data1020 (e.g., geographic region or location, wireless access point 130information, service required at the rental such as cleaning, laundry,snow shoveling, etc.), and electronic messages 1070 (e.g., email,tweets, text messages, SMS, IM, which may be used in addition to or inplace of phone call sequences A, B, C). In some examples, data storage1060 may include one or more of the other above described data storagecategories. In other examples, data storage resources accessed byplatform 150 may be external to platform 150 (e.g., positioned inexternal resource 199). Traveler data 1061 may include data on travelershaving a granularity that may range from a global granularity for alltravelers to a local granularity, such as a subset of data on a pool oftravelers associated with a specific geographic region or location, suchas a pool of travelers having a connection with geographic region orlocation the traveler 101 is presently located in, for example.

One or more of the flows depicted in FIGS. 1-7 and 9 may be implementedusing hardware, circuitry, executable code 1042 and/or API 1041, forexample. For purposes of explanation, a computing resource (e.g., 1053,1055, 1059) depicted in FIG. 10 may be referred to as a networkedcomputing device and a data storage resources may be referred to as datastorage or a data store. For example, data 119 may be received bynetworked computing resource 1053 via communications interface 1080. Insome examples, a computing device that transmitted the data 119 may bereferred to as a traveler device (e.g., 110) or a portal computingdevice (e.g., 130, 177). As another example, data 123 from proprietordevice 113 may be received by networked computing resource 1053 viacommunications interface 1080. In some examples, the data 123 mayinclude credential data for the proprietor device 113, that uponverification, allows data communications access to platform 150 (e.g.,after a proprietor 103 has become a member of the electronic exchangeand has been assigned access credentials). In some examples, data 119and/or 123 may comprise data from one or more of sequence A, B or C(e.g., VoIP data, digital data or other data for the caller and/orcallee).

One or more traveler devices 110 and/or proprietor devices 113 maycommunicate (191, 193) with platform 150 via a Web Site/Web Page 1080(e.g., using a browser or application on a laptop, PC, wireless device,smartphone, pad, tablet, touch screen device, etc.). Information (117,119) from traveler device 110 and/or information (121, 123) fromproprietor device 113 may be viewed, entered, transmitted, received, orotherwise communicated (191, 193) between platform 150 and anotherdevice (e.g., 110, 113, etc.) using Web Site/Page 1080. Data associatedwith rental unit 120 or other events/activities in a geographic regionor location may be communicated via Web Site/Page 1080. Platform 150 mayrequire access be granted to a device (e.g., 110, 113, etc.) prior toallowing data communication with the platform 150 via Web Site/Page1080. In other examples, the phone call sequences A-C depicted in FIGS.1-5 may not require access credentials for the traveler device 110and/or proprietor device 113. Traveler device 110 and/or proprietordevice 113 may include a biometric sensor (e.g., see fingerprint scanner518 in FIG. 5) to verify access credentials for data communicationsbetween platform 150 and traveler device 110, for example and/or betweenplatform 150 and proprietor device 113, for example.

Location data 1030 may include locations (e.g., GPS data and/or othergeo-location data) associated with events/activities (e.g., restaurants,shops, coffee houses, etc.) in a geographic region or location (e.g., acity, town, resort) in approximately the same locale as a rental unit(e.g., 120), for example. Examples of locations around a rental unit mayinclude but are not limited to a park across the street from the rental,a cafe of coffee shop down the street from the rental, etc. Examples ofproprietor locations may include location data associated with use ofthe owner device 113, such as location data from cellular networks(e.g., in the city or state the owner or a rental property or othertypes of events lives in), WiFi networks, WiMAX networks, knowngeo-location data for business, etc.

Event/activity data 1065 may include data for the stay at rental unit120, an entertainment venue, a bar, a grocery store, a bakery, goods,services, business, restaurants, etc. that may be promoted for traveler101 to partake in (e.g., via platform 150) or may be associated withactivities the traveler 101 will likely partake in during his/her stayat the at the rental 120 (e.g., based on traveler history, demographics,preferences, etc.).

Location data 1030 may include a location history data base. Thelocation history data base may include location data tracked and storedover time based on various locations visited by traveler 101 withtraveler device 110 that includes or has access to internal/externalsources of location data, such as satellite 187, access points 130,cellular networks 177, etc. Validation of location of a traveler 101 mayinclude accessing data in location data 1030, the location history database included in 1030, or both. In some examples, a computing devicethat communicates the data 119 (e.g., device 110) may include locationhistory data base (e.g., 147) which may include the same or differentdata than the location history data base in 1030. In some exampleslocation data in one of the location history data bases may be used toupdate and/or replace location data in another location history database.

Credential data 1064 (e.g., access credentials, user name, emailaddress, password, etc.) may be a data store where access data isretained for members of the electronic exchange. As another example,credential data 1064 may include credentials for WiFi access points(e.g., 130) located in a rental unit and/or in a proprietors 103business. Other forms of credentials may be included in credential data1064, such as access credentials for traveler devices 110 and/orproprietor devices 113, for example. Electronic messages 1070 may be adata store for incoming and/or outgoing electronic messages, such asemails, push notifications, push events, and electronic messagesgenerated by one or more of platform 150, proprietor 103, or traveler101, for example. Electronic messages 1070 may include data in 117, 121,119 and 123, for example. Electronic messages 1070 may be presented on adisplay of device 110, 113, or web site/page 195, for example.Electronic messages may be used in place of or in addition to phonecalls (e.g., sequences A-C). For example, one or more of the sequencesA-C may be replaced with an electronic message.

Rental unit data 1020 may include information on a rental unit (e.g.,event 120) that may be accessed by platform 150 to determine businessesand/or services that may be of interest to a traveler 101. Platform 150may use the rental unit data to match goods/services that may be neededby traveler 101 with goods/services offered by proprietors in thegeographic region or location of the rental unit 120, such as amenities,rental unit policies, pet polices, parking polices, rental addressinformation, electronic devices in the rental unit, appliances in therental unit, maintenance contact information, rental owner information,workout/exercise facilities at the rental, just to name a few.

Proprietor data 1063 may include data about proprietors 103, such asaddress and contact information, email accounts, data on proprietordevices 113 (e.g., MAC address or other forms of device ID, etc.),ratings on proprietors from other travelers and/or other sources forreview data, for example.

Traveler data 1061 may include data about travelers (e.g., 101), such asaddresses and contact information, email accounts, travelerdemographics, traveler preferences, spending habits, spending power,data on traveler devices 110 (e.g., MAC address or other forms of deviceID, etc.), financial accounts for deposits, payments, refunds, etc. Staydata 1066 may include stay dates, check-in/check-out times/dates for arental unit or hotel, location data for a rental unit, for example.

Data storage 1060 may be used as a data store that may be accessed byother components internal to and/or external to platform 150. Platform150 may include more or fewer resources than depicted in FIG. 10 asdenoted by 1052.

Platform 150 may share data processing and/or data storage with externaldevices, such as traveler devices 110, owner devices 113, externalresource 199, for example. As one example, hardware systems (e.g., seeFIGS. 2 and 11) circuitry, sensors 230, clock 240) of traveler device110 may perform calculations, signal processing or other electronicfunctions and communicate data (e.g., via 119) to platform 150. Forexample, location data resources of device 110 in conjunction withcircuitry that receives signals from sensors 230 and/or clock 240 may beused to determine a rate of speed and direction (e.g., velocity), oftraveler device 110, and data from that determination may becommunicated (e.g., via 191 and 119) to platform 150. The data may beused to calculate whether or not a traveler 101 is heading toward anevent/activity or away from an event/activity in a geographic region orlocation of one or more proprietors 103. The data may be used todetermine if the traveler 101 will arrive at an event within (e.g., the7:00 pm dinner reservation of 309C) a specified time set for the event.

Although the foregoing examples have been described in some detail forpurposes of clarity of understanding, the above-described conceptualtechniques are not limited to the details provided. There are manyalternative ways of implementing the above-described conceptualtechniques. The disclosed examples are illustrative and not restrictive.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system, comprising: a communications interface;and a computing resource in communication with the communicationsinterface; the computing resource configured to: receive datarepresenting a phone call from a first computing device in communicationwith the communications interface via a first communications link,communicate data representing a first message to the first computingdevice prior to connecting the phone call from the first computingdevice with a device the phone call is addressed to, connect with thedevice the phone call is addressed to via a second communications linkbetween the communications interface and the device, communicate, afterconnecting with the device, data representing a second message to thedevice, and connect the first computing device with the device using oneor more communications links between the first device, the device andthe communications interface.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein thecomputing resource is further configured to: delay connection of thephone call from the first computing device to the device, andcommunicate during the delay, via the first communications link, thefirst message to the first computing device, the first message includingdata representing that the phone call from the first computing device isbeing connected.
 3. The system of claim 2, wherein the computingresource is further configured to: communicate during the delay, via thesecond communications link, the second message, the second messageincluding data representing that the phone call from a potentialcustomer is being provided by an electronic exchange.
 4. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the computing resource is further configured to: delayconnection of the phone call from the first computing device to thedevice, and communicate during the delay, via the second communicationslink, the second message, the second message including data representingthat the phone call from a potential customer is being provided by anelectronic exchange, and the data further includes an invitation to jointhe electronic exchange.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the firstcomputing device is in wireless communication with the communicationsinterface via the first communications link.
 6. The system of claim 1,wherein the second message includes data representing that the phonecall from a potential customer is being provided by an electronicexchange and the second message includes data representing a proprietorrating on the potential customer.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein thesecond message includes data representing that the phone call from apotential customer is being provided by an electronic exchange and thesecond message includes data representing a tally of a number of phonecall leads for other potential customers that have been provided by theelectronic exchange.
 8. The system of claim 1, wherein the firstcomputing device includes an application configured to transmit the datarepresenting the phone call using a voice over Internet protocol call.9. The system of claim 1, wherein communication between the first deviceand the communications interface comprises digital data andcommunication between the device and the communications interfacecomprises analog data.
 10. The system of claim 1, wherein after thefirst device and the device are connected, communication between thefirst device and the communication interface is via a voice overInternet protocol, and communication between the device and thecommunication interface is via a different protocol than the voice overInternet protocol.
 11. The system of claim 1, wherein after the firstdevice and the device are connected, communication between the firstdevice and the communication interface is via a server call, andcommunication between the device and the communication interface is viaa different protocol than the server call.
 12. The system of claim 1,wherein after the first device and the device are connected,communication between the first device and the communication interfaceand the device and the communication interface are via a voice overInternet protocol.
 13. The system of claim 1, wherein the computingresource is further configured to: compute a running tally of phone callleads, include in the second message, data representing that the phonecall from a potential customer is being provided by the electronicexchange and data representing that the running tally of phone callleads is being provided by the electronic exchange.
 14. A computingdevice, comprising: a computing resource; a display in communicationwith the computing resource; a data storage resource; and acommunications interface in communication with the computing resourceand the data storage resource, the computing resource configured to:establish a communications link with an external system, communicate tothe external system, via the communications link, data representing aphone number to be called in response to a selection of an imagepresented on the display, receive from the external system, prior to theexternal system connecting the phone call with a device the phone callis addressed to, data representing a first message generated by theexternal system, and receive, from the external system via thecommunications link, after the external system has connected the phonecall with the device the phone call is addressed to, data representing aconversation.
 15. The computing device of claim 14, wherein thecomputing resource is further configured to: implement a voice overInternet protocol to communicate the data representing the phone numberto be called to the external system.
 16. The computing device of claim14, wherein the computing resource is further configured to: implement aserver call to a networked computing resource to communicate the datarepresenting the phone number to be called to the external system. 17.The computing device of claim 14, wherein the computing resource isfurther configured to: access data representing temporal data from aclock, access data representing geolocation data from a globalpositioning system integrated circuit, determine a distance between ageolocation of the activity and a current geolocation of the computingdevice from the data representing geolocation data, determine anestimated time of arrival at the activity the phone call was addressedto by calculating a change in the distance as a function of time usingdata representing time data extracted from the data representing thetemporal data, and communicate, via the communications link, theestimated time of arrival to the external system.
 18. The computingdevice of claim 17, wherein the estimated time of arrival is determinedafter the external system has connected the phone call with the devicethe phone call is addressed to.
 19. A method comprising: receiving froma caller computing device, data representing a phone call to a calleedevice; transmitting after a time delay, to the caller computing device,prior to connecting the caller computing device with the callee devicethe phone call is addressed to, data representing a first messagestating the phone call to the callee device is being connected;establishing a first communications link with the callee device usingthe data representing the phone call; transmitting over the firstcommunications link, data representing a second message stating the acall from a potential customer is being provided by an exchange;establishing a second communications link between the callee device andthe caller computing device, the second communications link operative toconnect the phone call from the caller computing device with the calleedevice; and transmitting over the second communications link, datarepresenting a conversation.
 20. The method of claim 19 and furthercomprising: converting, using a format converter, data transmitted fromthe callee device, the caller computing device or both, from a firstformat to a second format that is different than the first format; andselecting, using a connection manager, a first sequence connection typefor the callee device and a second sequence connection type for thecaller computing device that is different than the first sequenceconnection type.